Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng has urged his top officials to ensure that the tasks presented in his 2020 Policy Address last month will be completed this year.

According to a statement by the Government Information Bureau (GCS) on Saturday afternoon, Ho convened a close-door meeting that morning with bureau directors and other senior officials about the “following-up on and carrying-out” of the measures listed in his 2020 Policy Address.

According to the statement, the meeting, which was held at the Macau Science Centre (MSC) in Nape, was attended by the government’s nine principal officials, as well as about 260 senior officials, namely the chief-of-cabinet of and advisors to the Chief Executive Office (GCE), the chief-of-cabinets of and advisors to the five policy secretaries, as well as other senior officials. Ho was flanked by the nine principal officials on the panel.

Macau’s nine principal officials comprise the government’s five policy secretaries, the anti-graft commissioner, audit commissioner, head of the Unitary Police Service (SPU) and chief of the Macau Customs Service.

During the two-hour meeting, Ho pointed out that he and his five policy secretaries recently presented the next seven months’ government tasks to the Legislative Assembly (AL) where they “promised residents the various measures that the government will carry out this year”, the statement said.

Ho delivered his 2020 Policy Address to the Legislative Assembly (AL) on April 20 and answered questions from lawmakers during a Q&A session the next day, after which, over the past two weeks, his five policy secretaries attended separate Q&A sessions about their respective portfolios’ 2020 policy guidelines. Ho is slated to present his 2021 Policy Address in November.

According to the statement, Ho said that he convened the meeting in order to “unify the thoughts” and demand that all public entities must implement and execute the 2020 Policy Address’s tasks concerning their respective functions. Ho said that all the bureaus and other public entities must take the initiative to complete the various tasks step by step in line with the plans listed in the 2020 Policy Address over the next seven months.

“If you encounter any difficulties during the process, your superiors will certainly provide support,” the statement quoted Ho as saying.

Saving public funds, preventing ‘information silos’

The statement said that the meeting’s topics also included the promotion of e-government services and the saving of public funds. Ho said that the various public entities have made some progress in improving their e-government services. Ho also said that in order to prevent the emergence of “information silos” the next step should be to strengthen “horizontal” data sharing and interaction between the public entities, adding that it was also necessary to better understand residents’ needs for public administration services, only in which case e-government could effectively be promoted, according to the statement.

According to the statement, Ho admitted that Macau’s economy this year will be severely affected by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic. As a result, the government’s revenues will fall steeply, Ho said, adding that therefore all public entities should “spend only when they need to” and save on their expenses, particularly administrative expenses related to hospitality, gifts, and trips abroad.

The statement said that Ho also took the opportunity to thank, once again, the various public entities and all public servants for their efforts and contributions during the COVID-19 epidemic. Ho said that the government’s epidemic prevention and control work over the past several months has fully reflected the achievements of its cross-departmental cooperation.